The controversy surrounding the release of Bollywood movie 'Indu Sarkar' based on the 1975- 1977 Emergency period, on Wednesday reached the Supreme Court and the Delhi High Court which would hear the separate pleas today.

While the matter was mentioned in the apex court in the morning session, advocate Ujjawal Anand Sharma mentioned his plea before the high court in the post-lunch session.

The controversy surrounding the release of Bollywood movie ‘Indu Sarkar’ based on the 1975- 1977 Emergency period, on Wednesday reached the Supreme Court and the Delhi High Court which would hear the separate pleas today. While Priya Singh Paul, who claimed to be the biological daughter of late Sanjay Gandhi, moved the apex court seeking a stay on the scheduled release of film on July 28, an advocate filed a plea in the high court for revoking the censor board clearance given to the movie directed by Madhur Bhandarkar. An apex court bench, headed by Justice Dipak Misra, would hear today the petition challenging the July 24 verdict of the Bombay High Court which had dismissed her plea seeking a stay on release of the film. Paul alleged that the movie was “full of concocted facts and was totally derogatory” and it maligned the images of former prime minister Indira Gandhi and her son Sanjay. While the matter was mentioned in the apex court in the morning session, advocate Ujjawal Anand Sharma mentioned his plea before the high court in the post-lunch session.

He has claimed that the movie depicts Indira Gandhi and Sanjay in a bad light and is a “propaganda film” and the film- makers had not got a no-objection certificate from the Gandhi family prior to making the movie as is required under the film certification law when a movie is based on “real incidents and people”. The film has evoked strong criticism and protests from the Congress. The petitioner claimed in the apex court that in an interview, Bhandarkar had said that the movie was 30 per cent “facts” and 70 per cent “fiction”.

“My biological grandmother was the prime minister. The movie contains totally derogatory facts and it is horrendous for a movie to malign the images of these persons,” her counsel claimed in the apex court.

The censor board has granted a U/A certificate to the film after ordering 12 cuts, which has been complied with.